BEIJING – President Obama's decision to shorten, then ultimately cancel, a trip to Asia this weekend may be good news for his Chinese counterpart, who is striving to charm a region unnerved by China's aggressive stance over territory and looking forward to a so-called "Asia pivot" in U.S. foreign policy.

Now four years old, Obama's rebalancing strategy to strengthen U.S. influence in fast-growing Asia is seen by China as an attempt to restrict its rise in economic and military might.

"Obama has done a lot to make new friends and keep old friends in the Asia-Pacific," said Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at People's University of China in Beijing.

But China's newest President Xi Jinping, who was vaulted to power in 2012, has been making moves of his own to ensure Chinese dominance in Asia, Shi said.

Rather than threats of attack, as Chinese leaders have been using for years, Xi is trying out "mild posture and language" to compete with U.S. influence and set aside Southeast Asian concerns about China, he said.

Beijing claims for China most of the South China Sea, more than 1 million square miles of ocean that is home to potential wealthy stores of oil and massive marine fisheries. But China is not the only country whose land abuts the sea.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia also claim a right to the sea and in some cases shoals that China says belong to it are actually much closer to other countries. The sea is also home to some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

China has dispatched flotillas of fishing boats and military craft to stake claims on fishing grounds and has refused to entertain negotiations with other countries over sharing rights to the sea.

But on his Southeast Asia trip that Obama was supposed to make as well, Chinese Xi Jinping is putting on a humble face.

Xi arrived Friday in Kuala Lumpur for a state visit to Malaysia where he said China and Malaysia share extensive common interests. Malaysia is China's largest trade partner among Southeast Asian nations and Xi is expected to use the visit to boost trade even further.

On Thursday, in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Xi addressing the nation's parliament where he led with, "How are you?" and did so in the official Bahasa Indonesia language, a touch that Xi's stiff predecessor Hu Jintao would probably never have done.

Xi, who is also China's Communist Party chief, has also made a point of traveling with his wife, Peng Liyuan, a stylish and widely photographed first lady. A singing star at home, she has become a new diplomatic asset for China where leaders' wives are usually never seen.

The couple traveled to Malaysia on Thursday, and will return to Indonesia Saturday for a regional summit on the island of Bali, the same summit that Obama was to attend.

The White House confirmed that Obama has canceled his entire trip to Asia , blaming it on the standoff with Congress over the budget and his health care plan. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the meeting in Bali of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and also go to the East Asia Summit in Brunei in place of the president, White House press secretary Jay Carney said late Thursday.

Fewer appearances by Obama will be to Beijing's benefit, say analysts.

But there is doubt that the Asia pivot truly exists.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, visiting South Korea and Japan this week, still flies the flag for the "Asia Pivot" program, which has deployed 2,500 marines to Australia but delivered few other headlines. And Secretary of State John Kerry, who will stand in for Obama in Malaysia, has focused more on the Middle East.

"So far, Obama's 'pivot' to Asia can be summed up in three letters: MIA," said Sadanand Dhume, a resident fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington public policy think tank.

"Southeast Asia in particular, where the president spent part of his childhood (in Indonesia), has reason to feel neglected. Instead of countering aggressive Chinese diplomacy in the region, Obama is presiding over arguably the fastest dilution of American influence since the end of the Vietnam war," Dhume said.

The Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank that backs a strong U.S. military presence abroad, said the Obama administration's "Asia pivot" appears to be in name only. It argues that Obama's sizable cuts in the military as threats to global peace and stability grow are constraining America's global power projection and force sustainability capabilities in the Pacific.

This marks the third time Obama has had to pull out of planned trips to Asia during his presidency due to domestic issues. He postponed two trips in 2010, due to the healthcare battle and then the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. On the other hand, China's leaders, who head a one-party political system, rarely change overseas travel plans even after natural disasters or major accidents back home.

And China's method for blunting U.S. influence was on display Thursday.

Xi stressed economic and historical ties with Indonesia, the largest country in southeast Asia, and the world's largest Muslim majority nation. China is investing in a huge industrial park in Indonesia, will build a cultural center in Jakarta, and supply monorail trains for the traffic-clogged capital.

China also will resolve maritime disputes peacefully, Xi told the Indonesia parliament Thursday. Yet he made no public concession to the demand for a multiparty negotiation over the future of the South China Sea.

Li says most regional countries realize, "they must keep good relations with China as a priority."

Hanoi and Manila have been the region's most vocal critics of China's expansionist maritime activities. Last month, the Philippines accused China of planning new buildings on disputed shoals that are thousands of miles from China's shore but claimed by Beijing.

China is watching closely to see whether the Obama administration acts on the pivot in the Philippines, said Benito Lim, an expert on Sino-Philippine relations at Ateneo de Manila University. Talks are taking place over new military agreements, and basing rights, between the USA and the Philippines, which has a poorly equipped navy.

"Most Filipinos believe America will come to our rescue if we are in trouble with a third party, but that's over-expectation, America has its own national interest, and more serious problems with China than we do," he said.

"The Philippines needs both the USA, for security assurances and protection, and China, for our economic growth and development. The best thing is if they don't force us to make a choice, but help us develop our country and keep both as friends," said Lim.

Some in China say the best way for the United States to prevent conflict is to basically get out of China's way.

"Obama is not rebalancing but giving tilted support that will only make tension more heightened," said Shen Dingli, an international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Shen says Washington risks making China more confrontational by not encouraging the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia to bend to China's demand that it owns the entire sea, even those shoals that are far closer to other nations.

"Some day diplomacy will fail and China will be able to defeat these countries, and the U.S. has no guts to back them," he said.